Dalyell, aged 19 and Midshipman Bourne, aged 16, in a boarding school with instructions that they 'be cautious and act boyish in their conduct'.With those two secure, Laing and Hanchett dressed in plain clothes, set off by night on a barge headed for Amsterdam from there they travelled by boat to Memdeblik and from there, to Groningen. Knowing that a party of four would be too large to escape he placed the Acting Lieutenant, W.C.C. On hearing of the officer's distress, Laing immediately volunteered his services to help them escape. Given that they had escaped from custody they would very likely have been executed if they were retaken so their predicament was indeed a serious one. Still in uniform with only their greatcoats to hide their allegiance they managed to contact Mr Ferrier. Quickly captured, they were taken to Zierikzee and there after 17 days the three officers managed to escape.
STORM BOY ACHIEVEMENTS FREE
Finding themselves unable to free the vessel when the weather cleared they were forced to burn her. Taking the lesser of two evils Lieutenant Hanchett ran the vessel aground on a sandbank south west of Goeree. What she was not suited for, however, was the rough winds which blew up from the north-west catching the ship between deep seas, in which she was sure to founder, and the hostile coast. The small vessel with her crew (consisting of just a Lieutenant, Acting Lieutenant, Midshipman and eleven sailors) was ideally suited to the task. Her mission was to spy out concentrations of French troops and ships on the Dutch coast.
His infatuation notwithstanding, it is at this time that his wild side became apparent.The Scottish Scarlet PimpernelIn response to the fears of French invasion, the Dutch-built Schuit, Experiment left Yarmouth on 17 November 1803.
At this time Laing fell for Mr Ferrier's daughter and narrowly escaped what he later called an 'imprudent marriage'. This was a difficult time as Holland was in effect controlled by the French and, while not legal, trade with England was allowed to continue as quietly as possible. Here he stayed, in 1803, with the family of Mr Ferrier, a partner of the British Consul at Rotterdam. Leaving Liverpool after a year he travelled first to Hamburg and later Kiel, continuing to busy himself with mercantile pursuits until he found himself in Holland. After a two year sojourn in Edinburgh with his eldest brother Malcolm, Laing was sent to the counting house of Mr Robert Gladstone (the uncle of future Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone) to serve as a Clerk and learn the basics of business. However, first he needed to learn the necessary skills. His family's intentions for his future were mercantile in nature with the expected inheritance of his brother Gilbert to provide the necessary financial backing. Educated mainly at home he was briefly schooled by a minister in Kirkwall and from an early age showed an aptitude for academic matters. He was the youngest of seven boys and two girls and as such was without inheritance, a fact to which he attributed his strangely eclectic career. Royal Staff Corps), light contact marks, very fineProvenance:Sotheby's May 1910.Glendining's September 1963 & March 1985.Samuel Laing was born in 1780, the youngest son of Robert Laing, Provost of Kirkwall and Barbara Laing (née Blaw). Laing, Royal Staff Corps, 'The Scottish Scarlet Pimpernel', who saved three shipwrecked sailors from Napoleon's agentsMarched under Wellington, and was present at Roleia and Vimeria, having his horse shot from under him at the latter and replacing it with that of a captured French General, he was later on the Staff of General Leith under Moore at Corunna and led the Grenadier Company of the 59th in a bayonet charge against French positions, other adventures including being almost murdered by Portuguese peasants who took him for a Frenchman In later life he wrote the first English translation of the Norwegian Heimskringla and almost brought down the Swedish Government with his incendiary description of their corrupt political establishmentMilitary General Service 1793-1814, 3 clasps, Roleia, Vimiera, Corunna (Saml. The fascinating Military General Service Medal to the Spy, Soldier, Businessman, Travel Writer and Academic, Ensign S.
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